Australian Respiratory Council

Tuberculosis is finally getting on the agenda of the Heads of State

Posted on Tuesday, November 28, 2017

22 November 2017, Geneva, Switzerland -- Last week, 75 ministers agreed to take urgent action to end TB by 2030 at the conclusion of the WHO Global Ministerial Conference on ‘Ending TB in the Sustainable Development Era: A Multisectoral Response’ in Moscow, Russia. President Vladimir Putin of the Russian Federation gave the keynote speech on the first day of the Conference on 16 November. The first high-level plenary started with the welcome address of Amina J Mohammed, UN Deputy Secretary. The Conference was opened by Veronika Skvortsova, Minister of Health, Russian Federation, Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General, Zsuzanna Jakab, WHO Regional Director for Europe, Dr Aaron Motsoaledi, Minister of Health of South Africa and Chair of the Stop TB Partnership, and Timpiyan Leseni, TB survivor from Kenya. The meeting was attended by ministers and country delegations, as well as representatives of civil society and international organizations, scientists, and researchers. More than 1000 participants took part in the two-day conference which resulted in collective commitment to ramp up action to end TB.